Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is — Setting Up A Google Apps Acount

I’ve been talking up the advantages of using Google Apps for email to a lot of my friends and family. This last week, my Dad agreed to take the plunge. Because the details of the process seem to fade with time, I wanted to document my experience as we navigate the through the process in real-time. Hopefully, this will be enlightening for you and not too embarrassing for me.

Currently using secureserver through GoDaddy for email.
Already owns domain name.
Would like to use Gmail and other tools in Google Apps
Plan to transfer existing emails into new Gmail account for archival purposes